Oil leaking on my Neon

Hi all,

My neon was leaking oil so I took it to the mechanics and they fixed it to a
certain degree but it's still leaking a few drops a day. They said that to
fix the problem completely I'd have to change the head gasket which would
cost me a lot of money (>$1000).

My question is what sort of risk am I putting myself and my car into by
allowing for a few drops of oil leakage per day?

 

What year Neon?

 

Sorry, it's a 97 Neon. Thanks.

 

I've had the same problem on my '95 neon. First head gasket blew before
they had figured out the MLS gasket, so I'm on my second "bad" gasket.

The car dripped a couple drips a day for over four years, now just recently
it has developed a more significant leak and an appetite for coolant,
although with no evidence in the engine oil, thankfully. It's sitting in
the garage waiting for me to get off my duff, track down a FSM for the car,
pick up a six pack, and get to work.

The head gaskets on these cars usually failed with an external leak just
like yours due to a bad design. An oil passage in the EGR area on the rear
of the block by the brake booster is too close the outside of the block and
the gasket is too thin.

You may want to have the tech put some oil dye in the engine and make SURE
that it's the head gasket. These cars are also known to leak oil from the
cam cover and the cam position sensor. The latter is often confused with a
head gasket leak due to its close proximity.

Short answer - as long as you're not mixing oil and coolant and the leak is
manageable, you're fine.

Jeff Falkiner
95 neon - currently waiting for open-heart surgery to fix a coolant breach
99 Intrepid - the Green Monster
04 Sebring - the Silver Bullet

 

A FIRE!

 

NO

 

With motor oil? I could see that if it was leaking gas.

-- Christian

Save Darfur -- http://www.savedarfur.org/
World Vision (Darfur) -- http://donate.wvus.org/OA_HTML/xxwvibeCCtpItmDspRte.jsp?section=10025&item=1072182
ICC (Sudan) -- http://www.persecution.org/Countries/sudan.html

 

Guess again, oil leaking on the exhaust is highly flamable, Acually im
surprised this wasnt a recall. the 4 cyl 2.5 had a recall e few years ago
with the valve cover gasket/cover that leaked oil and caused fires....Oil is
flamable I got news for you

 

Hmmm. Okay. I'll have to try to set some on fire when I get home and
see how easily it's done. I've got to tell you I've seen some engines
with more oil on the outside than on the inside that still don't
roast.

-- Christian

Save Darfur -- http://www.savedarfur.org/
World Vision (Darfur) -- http://donate.wvus.org/OA_HTML/xxwvibeCCtpItmDspRte.jsp?section=10025&item=1072182
ICC (Sudan) -- http://www.persecution.org/Countries/sudan.html

 

Try pouring some on a hot exhaust manifold. Much hotter than the rest of the
engine.

 

NO BILL DONT SAY THAT!!!!! I THINK HE WILL DO THAT, damn call the fire
department now!!

 

I had an 87 Plymouth Van with the 3.0 L engine. A seal failed in the Valve cover
and dumped oil on the exhaust manifold. Made lots of smoke but no fire. As
another poster stated lots of engines get covered with oil and have no issues.

Chance of fire is about same as using Cell phone causing explosion when getting
gas. Slim to none.

 

Only if I can borrow your car. Oil can be messy.

-- Christian

Save Darfur -- http://www.savedarfur.org/
World Vision (Darfur) -- http://donate.wvus.org/OA_HTML/xxwvibeCCtpItmDspRte.jsp?section=10025&item=1072182
ICC (Sudan) -- http://www.persecution.org/Countries/sudan.html

 

You bozos do know that oil doesn't burn, don't you? Ask any fireman, the
evaporated fumes ARE flammable, but not the oil itself.

 

if you pour enough of it on there, it will burn. especially ATF.

nate

 

Actually, hot oil fires are not uncommon. Not terribly common on
automobile engines, but industrial hydraulics have their share.

 

Doesn't matter how much oil there is, only the evaporated fumes will burn,
ATF? well, I wouldn't know, but we were'nt talking ATF were we?

When I was in training for a fire dept. I was taken to a county training
facility. They used oil pit fires to show trainees line handling. The
"pit" was a small pool of water that they opened a valve and let a layer of
oil onto. It was explained to us that since oil won't burn, only the oil
VAPOR, it took a while for the instructor to get the pit burning. But once
started, the heat from the burning vapor created more vapor, which burned
making the fire hotter which created more vapor.....etc....etc.

Considering all the leaking valve cover gaskets and head gaskets on all the
engines of all brands of cars (Chrysler isn't the only car maker with oil
leak problems) you could imagine how bad it would be if oil was flammable
like gasoline.

Don't take my word for it, ask a professional fireman, chemistry teacher,
etc.

 

The same thing is true of gasoline as well, does that mean I should
ignore fuel leaks?

nate

 

Yeah ok, have it your way, whatever you say......

 

Is industrial hydraulic fluid the same as motor oil?